1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for determining and optimizing a cost estimation for performing an assessment and certification project.
2. Background of the Invention
The marketplace requires or encourages entities, e.g., corporations, companies, organizations, etc., to assess and certify their processes and procedures against industry standard quality models, such as eSCM, ISO/9000®, CMMI®, ITIL®, COBIT®, etc. Additionally, with some quality models, the entity may be required to perform the assessment and certification process on a regular basis, e.g., every 2-3 years. ISO is a registered trademark of International Organization for Standardization in the United States, other countries, or both. CMMI is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, other countries, or both. ITIL is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. COBIT is a registered trademark of the IT Governance Institute in the United States, other countries, or both.
An expert, or small teams, from a single location may be required to perform an assessment and certification project; however, these assessment and certification projects have grown more complex and involved, which requires large teams. Moreover, these teams can be from a variety of different countries, with different team members involved with different elements of the assessment and certification project. For example, an entity seeking certification may be located in, e.g., India, but may have additional offices in, e.g., Singapore. Moreover, the entity performing the assessment and certification may be located in, e.g., the United States.
Performing these assessment and certification audits may be very expensive, depending on, e.g., the quality model used and the particulars of the entity seeking certification. Accordingly, an entity seeking certification may desire an assessment and certification project cost estimation prior to granting approval to perform the assessment and certification project. However, with each new assessment and certification project and/or with the cost estimation for each new assessment and certification project, an auditor must start anew and size the audit based upon the quality model used and the particulars of the entity seeking certification.
Additionally, the assessment and certification cost estimation is based off of a non-standardized, custom sized analysis for that particular project. Thus, with each new assessment and certification project cost estimation, reviewers may be unfamiliar with the information presentation. Consequently, a review and approval process may require more time and increase costs.
Additionally, as assessment and certification projects have grown more complex and involved, utilizing people or teams from different countries, costs may be incurred in different currencies. As such, a cost estimate for performing an assessment and certification may include estimated costs in a plurality of currencies. Thus, preparing and reviewing a cost estimation for an assessment and certification project may require the preparers and reviewers to work with and analyze data in a plurality of currencies, which may complicate and slow the preparation and approval processes, and increase the costs.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.